Stacking trays



July 16, 1957 K. H. KAY

/ STACKING TRAYS Filed July 12, 1954 Karl H. .Koye

. 'BY Mg I aite States 2,799,426 Patented July 16, 1957 ice This invention relates to stacking trays used to handle foods, most usually packaged foods as the latter are moved into and out of a freezing zone in course of quick-freezing the same, and pertains more especially to that type of tray which adapts itself to stacking in order that a plurality of the trays maybe carried, one surmounting another,

upon a platen, thus increasing the freezing capacity of a freezing room in the sense that the number of food parcels which can be accommodated in the floor area required for a single said platen is multiplied, in arriving at a determination of freezing capacity, by the number of trays stacked on the platen.

For its principal object the invention aims to provide a tray especially adapting 'itself to stacking and which operates to lock each upper tray in the stack against disarrangement either in a transverse or a longitudinal direction relative to the tray therebelow.

As a further and important object the invention looks to the provision of a stacking tray of the character described, wherein the locking feature is attained without in any way increasing the overall height of the multipletray stack.

The invention has the further object of providing a stacking tray of the described character, wherein said locking feature adds little or no width to the tray beyond the trays normal areal compass.

The invention has the yet further object of providing a stacking tray of the character described, wherein the locking instrumentality, in addition to holding the trays against relative horizontal movement, also localizes the stack relative to the supporting platen and performs the office of legs raising the lowermost tray off the surface of the platen so that freezing air is given access to the underside of packages carried by the lowermost tray.

With the foregoing objects and advantages in view, and otherwise aiming to provide a generally perfected stacking tray which is unusually sturdy and of especially simple and inexpensive construction, all of which will appear and be understood in the course of the following description and claims, the invention consists in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view portraying a stacking tray constructed in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and incorporating a showing of a complementing platen arranged to support a stack of said trays.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the platen with a stacked plurality of the trays thereon; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary front elevational view of said platen with the stack of trays thereon.

The reference numeral 5 generally denotes the trays, and the platen is denoted by 6. The trays are fabricated entirely from wire, galvanized after fabrication, and weld joints are provided at all points of contact between the various segments of wire which compose the tray. The tray is desirably rectangular in plan configuration,

fairly expansive in point of areal compass and rather shallow in depth. As can be clearly seen from an inspection of Fig. 1, a paling-like series of parallel spaced bars, each formed to a substantial U-shape, extend longitudinally along the bottom and up each end, the terminal legs 7 of these U-shaped bars being quite short bycomparison with the length of the cross-arms 8. The spacing between such longitudinal bars is moderately close.' As complements of these bars there is provided a set of three reinforcing bars each extending transverse to the longitudinal bars with one such reinforcing bar being located on the approximate transverse median line of the tray and the other two bars being disposed parallel to and at opposite sides thereof one in spaced proximity of one end and the other in spaced proximity of the other end of the tray. The centrally placed reinforcingbar has a'substantial U-shape with the'cross-arm 10 thereof contiguously underlying the cross-arms 8 and with the 'tWo terminal legs 11 extending upwardly at the sides. The other two reinforcing bars, and namely those which lie in spaced proximity of the ends of the'tray, are generally U-shaped excepting that pendent loops are provided within the length of each bar between the horizontal cross-arms 13.

and the upright terminal legs 14, these loops producing feet 15 which extend a moderate distance below the .bottom level of the tray proper. Viewed from the end of the tray, the foot which each loop describes has an abrupt heel portion 17 which is bent downwardly from the cross-arm 13 at approximate right angles thereto in a vertical plane substantially coinciding with the plane occupied by the terminal legs 11 and 14, from whence the same bends outwardly and upwardly in a fairly tight curve through somewhat more than .to produce a toe 18 having only a' moderate lateral protrusion, and

' thence merging by a slight reverse bend 19 with the leg 14. Viewing said footed reinforcing pieces'from the end it will be seen that the reverse bend 19 is diagonal to the toe 18 and the leg 14 so as to offset the one from the other, and the degree of this offset is by preference such (see Fig. 3) as will leave a moderate space between the'transverse vertical plane occupied by the toe and the transverse vertical plane occupied by the leg. The offset given to the leg of the footed reinforcing member which lies at one end of the tray is opposite that given to the leg of the footed reinforcing member which lies at the other end.

The tray is completed by two horizontal rails, as 20 and 21, girding the tray interiorly of the several legs 7, 11 and 14, with one such rail located at the upper limit of the legs and the other rail located at the approximate mid-height thereof. The wire composing such rails is desirably butt-welded into endless belts.

The three reinforcing transverse members and the two rails are by preference made from wire of fairly heavy gauge, say A" stock, while a lesser gauge is quite suitable for the longitudinally extending members.

A pallet suitable for carrying a stack of the described trays is denoted by 6, and it will be seen that there is provided on this pallet a set of four corner fittings 23, each so constructed and so placed as to form a socket for a respective one of the four feet of the lowermost tray in a stack. The pallet has cleats 24 or other like or suitable means on its underside raising the pallet off the floor a sufficient distance to accommodate the lift arms of a fork-lift truck.

While not illustrated it is here pointed out that a suitable pallet may be fabricated from wire, and it is to be furthermore noted that the lift arms of a fork-lift truck may, if desired, directly engage the lowermost tray in a stack so as, if desired, to dispense with the need for a pallet separate and apart from the trays.

In the use of the trays it will be apparent that the same stack neatly one upon another with the feet of each upper tray nesting over the ,top rail of the underlying tray and to the inside, laterally speaking, of the latter trays terminal legs or locking pales 14, such pales and the top rail of each lower tray in a nested stack thus locking the feet of the tray thereabove against horizontal shifting movement longitudinally in the one instance and transversely in the other instance. The purpose in providing a moderate space between the pales 14 of the lower tray and the foot of an upper tray is to obviate need forexact registration and thus permit stacking to be accomplished with greater facility.

The three widely spaced longitudinal cross-arms 1313 are by preference drawn from wire of heavier gauge .than that of the multiple closely spaced transverse crossarms 8, and it will be noted, when the trays are stackedone upon another, that said longitudinal cross-arms of each upper tray in the stack rest upon the upper horizontal rail of the next lower tray, wherefore a sub stantial space (see Fig. 3) is provided between each of the several trays in the stack to assure access of circulated air under as well as around each tray.

The construction and the manner of using the trays of the present invention are believed clear from the above description of my now preferred embodiment. Minor changes in the details of construction may perforce be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention, and it is my intention, therefore, that no limitations be implied and that the hereto annexed claims be given a scope fully commensurate with the broadest interpretation to which the employed language admits.

What I claim, is:

1. An interfitting stacking tray comprised of multiple U-shaped "bars running longitudinally of the tray in spaced parallel relation with the cross members of said bars producing a floor for the tray and the terminal legs producing a paling at each end of the tray, reinforcing bars adjacent the ends of the tray and each having a center section extending transversely of the tray in touching contiguity with said floor-forming cross members, the end portions of each reinforcing bar, viewed endwise ofthe tray, being looped downwardly and outwardly from .the ends of the respective center section through somewhat more than a half circle to form pendent feet and then having diagonal portions connecting said feet with upright terminal legs so as to have each such terminal leg as a locking pale occupying a plane horizontally offset endwise of the tray from the plane occupied by the respective pendent foot, and girding rails extending in vertically spaced relation horizontally about the circumference of the tray in touching contiguity with the end paling and the inner sides of said locking pales, the several pieces which form said tray being composed of Wire and being integrated with one another at each point of contact, said center sections of the reinforcing bars-extending laterally of the tray as far as the outer sides of the uppermost of said girding rails and corresponding ends of the reinforcing bars having their said diagonal portions extending in opposite directions, whereby, a plurality of said trays can be vertically stacked in registration with the pendent feet of each tray nesting over the uppermost rail of the next underlying tray and alongside the locking pales of the latter so as to lock the stacked trays against relative horizontal movement in all directions.

2. The tray of claim 1 in which each said reinforcing bar has its pendent feet occupying a common vertical plane transverse of the tray.

3. The tray of claim 1 in which said girding rails contact the inside of said end paling and the center sections of said reinforcing bars contact the underside of said floor-forming cross members.

4. The tray of claim 1 in which a U-shaped reinforcing bar is provided between and parallel to said reinforcing bars which are adjacent the ends of the tray, said U-shaped reinforcing bar having a center section extending transversely of the tray in contact with said floor-forming cross members and having its terminal end portions contacting the outer sides of the girding rails at the sides of the tray to serve as side pales between said locking pales.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 313,129 Tipney Mar. 3, 1885 746,597 Sochurek Dec. 8, 1903 2,364,705 Geralds Dec. 12, 1944 2,547,624 Coit Apr. 3, 1951 2,556,418 Del Mar June 12, 1951 2,646,186 Russell July 21, 1953 2,697,525 Breneman Dec. 21, 1954 

